President Sauli Niinistö met with the government’s foreign and security committee Tuesday to discuss the asylum seeker situation. He commented on the discovery last Sunday of a suspected asylum seeker who had apparently frozen to death in a car some 70 kilometres east of the Finnish border in Russia.
Russian media have speculated that the man, an Indian national, may have been waiting for an escort or permission to continue to the Finnish border. However Niinistö rejected the conjecture.
"It was said that the man had not received permission to move on. One has to wonder from what permit system. At least this is not about any Finnish permit," Niinistö said in response to the media reports.
Media speculation is that the man was apparently waiting for a permit or someone to take him across the border into Finland. However he never received any assistance since he was not accompanied by a paid guide.
Niinistö said that the situation raised questions about the system of paid guides, or in other words, people smugglers.
"It raises questions about whether this is a permit system or a system of paid fixers. If this kind of thing exists then it raises serious thoughts," Niinistö added.
The President would not openly speculate on whether or not the case was a question of human smugglers lurking across the Finnish border.
"I shall leave everyone to draw their own conclusions," he remarked.
Situation suggests international migration
President Niinistö’s comments followed a meeting with the government’s foreign and security committee. He noted that people are arriving in Finland from other countries apart from crisis areas in the Middle East.
He drew attention to the number of people of different nationalities entering the country. He added that the point of entry seems to have moved to the eastern border.
"The government has spoken a lot about what already seems like an international migration situation. We have observed that people have come from nearly 30 countries, in other words, there are 30 nationalities. In that case we are clearly not talking about a migration caused by the military situation in Syria and Iraq."
